SLMMDMC Public Notice Bastardised

By Thaimu Thullah

Many Sierra Leoneans were alarmed after reading the Public Notice issued by the Sierra Leone Mines and Minerals Development Corporation (SLMMDC) over a mining Lease Agreement signed by the three Paramount Chiefs of Sambaia, Dansogoia and Deing Chiefdoms with the Gento Group of Companies. They believe that as Sierra Leoneans, the institution should encourage its compatriots to invest in the sector, especially as profits from such an endeavour is going to benefit the nation immensely, both in terms of job creation, community development, infrastructure, royalty and tax payment.

According to several opinions sourced by this medium through random sampling, many expressed dismay over the apparent absence of knowledge by the SLMMDC of the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act of 2022, especially with regards to sections 3 & 4 of the said Act; which dictates that a Lease Agreement should first be acquired by the prospective investor from the mining community before coming for the issuance of license.

Many of them, familiar with the track record of the Gento Group of companies, believe that if given the opportunity to mine in the said concession areas, as expressed by the respective chiefdom rulers, the company will enhance the development of the areas, and contribute greatly to the development agenda of President Bio, whose utmost desire is to see Sierra Leoneans investing in the country.

Expert economists have also added their voice to the debate, saying that the economic downturn experienced in the country is the apparent remittance of foreign companies of profits abroad to foreign banks, as well as their failure to establish factories to add value to the extracted minerals. They maintained that foreign companies have enjoyed huge waivers (tax exemptions) for machinery and other equipment brought to mine the raw materials, and have, over the years, failed to translate their operations into factories, as well as transfer knowledge to locals. Foreign companies are likely to leave the country during natural crises like pandemics, often scaling down their workforce, unlike a local entity that will stay the course.

They maintained that collusion with foreign companies against local investors has been the undoing of the country’s development trajectory, adversely affecting the economy and creating a rise in the unemployment rate. They argued that such foreign companies recruit expatriates to do jobs that can be done by Sierra Leoneans, and pay them way above their Sierra Leonean counterparts, who do the bulk of the job.

These reactions are examples of a determination by citizens to own their resources and work for the benefit of the country.